RANGERS 1 CELTIC 1
ADAM IDAH went from villain to saviour in the derby stalemate at Ibrox this afternoon.
The Celtic striker passed up a great opening to put the champions ahead before the relieved hosts swept to the other end of the pitch to claim the breakthrough goal just before the interval.
However, Idah atoned big-style when he fired in the equaliser in the 57th minute to stop the rot after the Hoops had lost in the previous two all-Glasgow encounters.
GLASGOW BELONGS TO ME…Adam Idah celebrates his equaliser at Ibrox.
And Daizen Maeda blew the ideal opportunity to give the visitors the points in the fading seconds of seven minutes of stoppage-time when he fluffed his lines after sprinting away from the Ibrox defence to be confronted with Liam Kelly.
The Japanese speedster tried to sidestep the advancing keeper, lost control and the ball was booted clear as the game came to a halt only seconds later.
It was a fairly undistinguished affair, certainly not a derby classic, and Brendan Rodgers will be the first to admit his team can play better.
The first-half turned in THIRTY-SIX SECONDS when Idah squandered a superb chance and the hosts swept upfield to open the scoring through Cyriel Dessers.
It was a remarkable passage of play and the Hoops were punished severely for a dreadful miss from the Republic of Ireland powerhouse just before the interval.
Reo Hatate had produced nothing worthwhile with the game passing him by before he conjured up a magical through pass into the tracks of Idah.
The striker raced away from John Souttar into the box as a hesitant Kelly left his line more in hope than expectation.
The 2,000 Celtic fans in the ground prepared to celebrate until Idah rushed his shot, hit the keeper and the chance was gone.
The hosts breathed a sigh of relief, swept up the pitch and scored the opening goal.
OOPS…Celtic are hit on the breakaway as Cyriel Dessers slots the ball wide of Viljami Sinisalo.
Mohamed Diomande pushed a pass into the box, Vaclav Cerny dummied it and Dessers latched onto the ball. All too easily, he brushed past a lacklustre challenge from Liam Scales, took the ball to the angle on the left and whipped a low drive past the exposed Viljami Sinisalo.
The Celtic players could only look at each other and wonder what had just happened.
The opening 45 minutes had seen Brendan Rodgers’ men perform anything like champions. Too many passes were rushed and sloppy and the only other time Kelly had been brought into action had been in the 34th minute when he tipped over a header from Cameron Carter-Vickers following a left-wing corner-kick from Arne Engels.
Before that, the Hoops had a scare in the 24th minute when VAR intervened to rule out an effort from Nico Raskin after the pint-sized Belgian had yet again won a header in the Hoops box.
Greg Taylor gave away a needless free-kick on the right after a wayward challenge on Cerny to present James Tavernier with the opportunity to swing another dangerous ball into the box.
DERBY TUSSLE…Callum McGregor challenges Nico Raskin for possession.
The hosts’ skipper had already demonstrated his expertise inside a minute when he sent over a right-wing corner-kick and Leon Balogun, disturbingly allowed the freedom of the penalty area, rose unchallenged to clip the bar with a header.
On this occasion, Tavernier whipped one into the mix and Raskin, who scored with a header to open the scoring at Parkhead in March, once again got in front of the opposing defenders.
His header evaded Sinisalo at his left. Referee Nick Walsh signalled a goal, but Andrew Dallas, on VAR, had another look and images proved Raskin had strayed just offside.
Celtic took charge after the interval and it was no surprise that they claimed a leveller in the 57th minute.
However, they had to wait to celebrate until VAR once again scrutinised the incident. Thankfully, there was no problem and the goal was given.
THE EQUALISER…Adam Idah fires Celtic level at Ibrox with Connor Barron too late to intercept.
Taylor got the ball rolling when he pitched a pass for Maeda to race onto down the left flank. The winger took it in his stride, but the move looked to have broken down when he momentarily lost control.
However, Souttar’s attempted clearance hit the Celt and ricocheted in front of Idah, lurking on the edge of the box.
The hitman shimmied to make an opening before hitting a right-foot drive. It took a nick off Souttar on its way past Kelly, but it was a goal as soon as it left the Irishman’s boot.
WHEN IRISH EYES ARE SMILING…Adam Idah and his Republic of Ireland team-mate Liam Scales celebrate the leveller.
In the 63rd minute, Rodgers made his first changes when he sent on Yang Hyun-jun and Paulo Bernardo for Forrest and Engels.
Fourteen minutes later, Jeffrey Schlupp came on for Taylor and Johnny Kenny joined the action in the 84th minute for Idah.
Sinisalo, who had looked sound throughout, showed swift reactions to get down to his left-hand post to block a late effort from Raskin. There was a melee in the goalmouth and Ianis Hagi went down theatrically after a challenge from Callum McGregor.
Neither Walsh nor Dallas bought into this one and ignored the futile pleas for a penalty-kick. An agitated Barry Ferguson thought otherwise and received a yellow card for his over-the-top protests.
Seven minutes of stoppage-time were flagged up and the game was edging towards its conclusion when Maeda was presented with the perfect opportunity to claim the winner.
On this occasion, the 33-goal hitman failed to deliver and Celtic had to be content with a draw.
TEAM: Sinisalo; Ralston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor (sub: Schlupp 77); Engels (sub: Bernardo 63), McGregor, Hatate; Forrest (sub: Yang 63), Idah (sub: Kenny 84) and Maeda.
